Listen to News with Tara Benwell - Instructions:
1. Preview the vocabulary and read the gapfill text.
2. Play the news report and try to fill in the blanks.
3. Answer the comprehension questions by writing full sentences.
4. Use the discussion question to write an essay or discuss the story with other students.
5. Click "show Answers" to see the full text.
6. Pretend to be a news anchor by reading each story out loud.

Oxfam, an anti-poverty charity, a new report that confirms that the gap between the rich and the poor is getting worse. Based on current trends, the richest 1% of the world’s people, also known as the super rich, will have over 50% of the world’s wealth by 2016. Oxfam’s definition of an wealth is the value of one’s assets minus the total of one’s debts. Income was not included as a of one’s wealth for the purpose of this study. The average American in this exclusive group of the super rich had wealth of 2.7 million dollars in 2014. Oxfam says that protecting a nation’s , such as oil, mineral and gas wealth, is one solution to reducing this economic gap.

Comprehension Questions

What is Oxfam?

By next year, what gap will exist between the world’s rich and poor if nothing major changes?

What suggestion does Oxfam have for reducing the economic gap?

Discussion Questions: According to this recent study, the richest 80 people in the world have more wealth than the poorest 3.5 billion people. What needs to be done to reduce global inequality? What will happen if this trend continues?

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The Richest 1% Are Getting Richer
Oxfam, an anti-poverty charity, released a new report that confirms that the gap between the rich and the poor is getting worse. Based on current trends, the richest 1% of the world’s people, also known as the super rich, will have over 50% of the world’s wealth by 2016. Oxfam’s definition of an individual’s wealth is the value of one’s assets minus the total of one’s debts. Income was not included as a measure of one’s wealth for the purpose of this study. The average American in this exclusive group of the super rich had an average wealth of 2.7 million dollars in 2014. Oxfam says that protecting a nation’s natural wealth, such as oil, mineral and gas wealth, is one solution to reducing this economic gap.

Oxfam is an anti-poverty charity.

By next year, the richest 1% of the world’s people will have over 50% of the world’s wealth.

Oxfam believes that we need to find a way to protect a nation’s natural wealth.

Written by Tara Benwell for EnglishClubTara Benwell is a Canadian freelance writer and editor who specializes in materials and articles for the ELT industry.